I'm pretty sure it's very fine dust on Mars, that's why the whole planet gets covered in a global dust storm for a few months every few years.

Maybe the rocks are in another part of the planet just like Earth but I think the fact that Mars has no surface water, low gravity and can hardly keep hold of it's atmosphere would be a huge part of the dust covering everything and making it look like a beach.

It's a beautiful planet though and the thing I like most about it is the colour of the sky. Orange/red by day and a blue sunset, that would be awesome to watch.

Take it and view it in full res, and look closely at the dirt. It has such a familiar appearance! And for some reason that makes it all the more spectacular

Look at the color of the ground in the wheel's shadow. It has the same orange hue as the ground lit directly by the sun rays. This means that the sky on Mars is quite bright and has a neutral grey or orange color, but not a deep blue color, that proponents of conspiracy theories like to say.

This narrated video gives a great overview of Curiosity's final minutes of Entry, Descent, and Landing, with a computer simulated external view alongside the full MARDI video from prior to heat shield separation all the way to landing. I still get shivers of excitement watching this stuff

It is interesting landscape in "top" of the rover on this image - like breaked ice. Maybe it is really an frozen lake! It is close enough to the rover, maybe it will reach it?

To me it just looks like dessicated terrain that can be found in many dry environments on Earth, but I am no geologist Very interesting looking though, I would love to see close-up pictures there! Unfortunately, that terrain lies to the north of the rover, and the mission objective is to the south